New worries about Earth’s asteroid risk, and harnessing plants’ chemical factories

Science Magazine Podcast

Science Podcast

News Commentary, News, Science

4.2 • 791 Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this week’s show: Earth’s youngest impact craters could be vastly underestimated in size, and remaking a plant’s process for a creating a complex compound First up this week, have we been measuring asteroid impact craters wrong? Staff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about new approaches to measuring the diameter of impact craters. They discuss the new measurements which, if confirmed, might require us to rethink just how often Earth gets hit with large asteroids. Paul also shares more news from the recent Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas. Next up, pulling together all the enzymes used by a plant to make a vaccine adjuvant—a compound used to boost the efficacy of vaccines—in the lab. Anne Osbourn, a group leader and professor of biology at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England, talks about why plants are so much better at making complex molecules, and an approach that allows scientists to copy their methods. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast [Image: NASA/JPL; Music: Jeffrey Cook] [alt: Itturalde crater in Bolivia with podcast overlay] Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh9195 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Morgan State University, a Baltimore, Maryland Carnegie R2 doctoral research institution,
0:05.0	offers more than 100 academic programs and awards degrees at the Baccliorate, Masters, and Doctoral Levels,
0:12.0	is furthering their mission of growing the future leading the world.
0:16.0	Morgan continues to address the needs and challenges of the modern urban environment.
0:20.0	With a four-year quadrupling of research, more than a dozen new doctoral programs,
0:25.7	and eight new National Centers of Excellence, Morgan is positioned to achieve Carnegie R1 designation in the next five years.
0:33.7	To learn more about Morgan and their ascension to R1, visit morgan.edu slash research.
0:40.5	This podcast is supported by the Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, one of America's leading research medical schools.
0:48.1	Icon Mount Sinai is the academic arm of the eight hospital Mount Sinai health system in New York City.
0:55.7	It's consistently among the top recipients of NIH funding. Researchers at ICONMount Sinai have made breakthrough discoveries in
1:02.0	many fields vital to advancing the health of patients, including cancer, COVID and long COVID,
1:08.8	cardiology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence.
1:12.6	The Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, we find a way.
1:22.2	This is the science podcast for March 24th, 2020.
1:26.2	I'm Sarah Crespi.
1:29.5	First up this week, I'll look at large, recent impact craters. Staff writer Paul Busen joins us to talk about a preliminary
1:35.3	finding that suggests we've been underestimating the size and frequency of asteroids hitting Earth.
1:41.7	We discussed the evidence needed to shore up this claim.
1:45.0	Next up, pulling together all the enzymes used by a plant to make a vaccine adjuvant.
1:50.0	This is a compound used to boost the efficacy of vaccines.
1:54.0	I talked with researcher Ann Osborne about why plants are just so much better at making complex molecules than chemists, and an approach that does allow scientists to copy these plant methods.
2:08.6	Last week, staff newswriter Paul Voussin spent some time in Texas
	...

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